D. Bennett Mazur, a Professor And New Jersey Legislator, 69

By JOSEPH F. SULLIVAN,

Published: October 13, 1994

TRENTON, Oct. 12—
D. Bennett Mazur, who combined service in the New Jersey State Assembly with a career as a professor at Ramapo College, died on Tuesday at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck. He was 69.

He died of complications from a stroke he suffered in November 1991, the hospital said.

Mr. Mazur was elected to a sixth term in 1991 but suffered a stroke the same day. He was sworn in in January 1992 but was forced to resign a month later because of his illness. Later that year the Legislature passed, and Gov. Jim Florio signed, a bill that Mr. Mazur had sponsored to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

One of the Assembly's most amiable and popular legislators, Mr. Mazur also sponsored legislation to ban the use of leg-hold traps by hunters and to establish the state's 911 emergency-response system

Born in New York City, Mr. Mazur served as an infantryman in Europe in World War II, winning a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts after being wounded in action.

He began his political career as a tenant activist after moving to Fort Lee a few years after the war. He served on the Bergen County Board of Freeholders from 1965 to 1967 and again from 1975 to 1980 before winning his first election to the State Assembly the following year. He was a strong advocate of the construction of the Veterans Nursing Home in Paramus and the Bergen County Animal Shelter.

Mr. Mazur served on several boards and commissions, including the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Study Commission and the Hudson River Waterfront Planning and Study Commission.

He taught planning and public administration at Ramapo, in Mahwah, for 20 years. Mr. Mazur received a B.S. in economics from Lafayette College, an M.B.A. in economics and finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in urban planning and public policy formation from Rutgers University.

He is survived by his wife, the former Betty Greene; their four children, Peter of Princeton, Alexandra and Danielle, both of Manhattan, and Nicole of Australia, and one grandson.